


Do Not Believe In Prophecies

by Lilachason, Soladox



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, End of the World, Fate, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Get Together, Heavy Angst, Other, Polyamory, Predestination, Prophecy, Prophets, Self-Esteem Issues, They do not have enough control, This Is Sad, but also they have too much control, poor boys, self doubt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-04-07 06:19:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14074779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilachason/pseuds/Lilachason, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soladox/pseuds/Soladox
Summary: The Prophets held the power, they sat in the castles of Kings, and made them all look like fools.A word appeared on every child’s wrist, almost always a blessing, expect for when it wasn't.The Prophets marked them all.When the threat came, it came for towns instead of people. It covered everything in a thin white dust, until it dissolved. So when the Prophets demanded the wrists now be bare, when they said no one could hide their words anymore, most agreed.John knows how to hide his word. It's easier that way. Lafayette and Alex know how to hide too. Lafayette does not believe in prophecies. Alex wants to believe him. John just wants to make it through with them at his side.But fate was parceled out by those who knew it.And they could not stop this.The threat came.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soladox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soladox/gifts).



> Made in collaboration with my amazing friend Soladox.  
> We have been doing collaboration for a long while now and this is the first work we ended up posting on A03.  
> Her art is amazing and will be posted every Tuesday with the exception of a few potential bonus weeks.  
> Message me if you would like a list of triggers, it is nothing major or terrible (no non con or graphic violence) but, I did choose not to use archive warnings because of spoilers.

 

_ The end will come at a price. _

“You keep this hidden.” His father didn’t look at him as he wrapped his wrist. 

John felt empty. 

The Prophets marked them all. One word on their wrist. Everyone’s first prophecy.  

“We must listen to The Prophets, even if we don’t like what the future holds.” His mother didn’t look at him as she tucked him into bed. 

When the threat came, it came for towns instead of people. It covered everything in a thin white dust, until it dissolved. So when The Prophets demanded the wrists now be bare, when they said no one could hide their words anymore, most agreed. 

The Prophets held the power, they sat in the castles of kings and queens, and made royalty look like fools. 

They could take people from the streets, take them to fulfill any prophecy, sacrifices,whatever they needed. And they said was this next threat needed honesty. 

A white mass, a sickness, overtaking towns at a time, leaving ash and dust behind.   No one saw what happened to those who stayed. 

No one knew. Except The Prophets, for the end of the world proved them right again. A threat meant they needed to listen to them. 

“Keep this hidden.” He didn’t look as his father and he left for good, but he did keep it hidden. 

Covering his mark looked suspicious, but no one knew why, and from there they could assume what that meant. Maybe they’d think he didn’t want to live up to expectations, maybe they’d think it was a private thing. 

Whatever the case, they could ignore the bandages in a way they couldn’t ignore the word.  

_ Failure.  _

And he knew it would only be a matter of time.  

He became a healer. One of the best. But, he shouldn’t have been hiding in the first place. That’s what the first head healer said. The second looked at his word before anything else. Out. Out. 

 

He tried to fight the second one. Refuse to leave. 

“We define our prophecies. Not the other way around. I am not leaving. Look at my qualifications. Look at my success rates. Look.” Blood boiling. Already itching for a fight. Backing down: another form of failure. 

He kept going until he didn’t know what words left his mouth, until he spat with every phrase, each syllable signifying nothing. 

Axioms and platitudes and pleading and always, always, fighting. 

“Get the hell out of here.”

Of course it didn’t work. 

“No.” He snarled. 

Thrown out. Hitting the ground. Eyes burning with humiliation. 

Do not cry over this. Do not cry over people like them. 

He felt empty. 

“Hey, you okay?” He looked up, a hand reached down, concerned eyes looking down with it. He slapped the hand away. Needed to stand for himself. He ignored the warm feeling that came with the offer. 

“Fine.” John snapped.  

“Actually that’s a pretty stupid question now that I think about it. Name’s Alexander Hamilton.” 

John didn’t respond, but silence didn’t seem to deter the man. He kept pushing back his hair, or shifting his weight. Never stopped moving. 

“Do you have a place to stay?”

“I’m fine.” 

“Do you need to get anywhere?”

John decided he was too tired for this, and walked away. He passed by more outposts, and sanctuaries. Past a shrine used for sacrifice and a monstatary built for housing low level Prophets. 

The next day, Alex showed up again, leaning against the job postings as if he belonged there.

“Are you stalking me?” 

“I’m looking for a job, too.” Alex gestured to the postings. 

They left it there. 

He kept showing up. Alex showed him his word after a few days. 

_ Betray. _

Seemed odd, considering how annoyingly consistent he was. 

Alex made him laugh. 

Which seemed almost disrespectful, when the world kept getting worse. He made Alex laugh. And that felt better than it should have. The Sickness overtook another town.  John kept moving forward. Told himself he wasn’t looking forward to the meetings, but couldn’t come up with another explanation as to why he felt happiest waiting for hours in the cold, knowing full well no one would hire him. 

He kept taking the emptiness away. 

One day he showed up and Alex wasn’t alone. 

He should have figured it out on his own. 

Of course he wouldn't be alone. 

“Are you eating enough?” John took in a deep breath, the stranger was as good looking as Alex, and seemed even more confident. Fantastic. 

“Do I know you?” 

“Gil, you can’t introduce yourself to people that way,” Alex said from behind John’s stand.

“Yes, my mistake. I am  Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.” 

John’s eyes widened. 

“You of course, may call me Lafayette. I am Alexander’s boyfriend.” 

To his credit John only froze for a second. Mumbled something about getting plenty to eat, and minding their own business before walking off. 

He never should have thought Alex would be alone. 

He thought he might stop coming. He should have. 

The next day Lafayette brought him food. More than he could possibly eat. He should have left it, but he ended up eating over half, while listening to Lafayette point to people as they passed and make up stories about them, and watching Alex steal bits of food off the plate, only to have his hand slapped away by Lafayette. 

“Stop it, that is for Laurens.” 

“You brought him enough to feed all three of us.”

“So he could bring some home- hey! Stop that.” Alex stole another piece and John couldn’t help but laugh at how offended Lafayette looked.

He should have left it there. 

But they moved together, he listened to Lafayette make everything sound simple; it would all work out. This threat would blow over just like all the others. They all had to keep their wrists bare, but it still felt like a sacred secret when Lafayette showed his word to John. 

_ Cruel.  _

“No. That’s..not right.” Even in the short amount of time he’d know him.  That wasn’t right. 

“I agree.” Alex said, and John had to look away. Felt too private. Too much of a reminder that he was on the outside looking in.  

Falling in love with both of them. With the easy laughs, and conversations never leading  anywhere. 

Somehow he’d messed up this badly. 

But he kept laughing at Alex, and soaking up Lafayette's kindness, and he pretended it was enough. 

Lafayette didn’t believe in prophecies, he made it sound simple. John didn’t understand how they could both be so brave, how they treated the words like they were nothing. 

One day no one else showed up. The freezing rain drove them off. 

He couldn’t think. 

He still needed to find a job, the meals from Lafayette wouldn’t last forever, the shelter where he stayed would kick him out eventually. So he couldn’t leave. If he was alone he might have less competition. 

But, no one hired in weather like this. No one else came out.  He needed to find something. He should have expected the jobs to start drying up after The Prophecy, the merchant cities had been overtaken, no money flowed in. No one could afford to buy anything. No one could afford to give up the job they had. 

He shivered and closed his eyes. No giving up. Giving up meant failure. The rain kept up, soaked him to the bone. He thought of Lafayette and Alex, probably warm, having a lazy day together. The thought made his stomach clench with longing not even sure for what. Wanting to stay anywhere but here, no, wanting to be there with them.  John’s eyes snapped open, flinching back. He’d heard footsteps, nothing good could come of this. 

“Look! I told you.” Alex’s voice. Why? He kept backing up. He couldn’t think. He slammed into one of the old abandoned booths, making more freezing water splash on him. 

“Oh John, what are you doing out here?” Lafayette approached him slowly, speaking quietly as if John were a frightened animal. 

“N-need a job.” He managed teeth chattering. 

“It’s freezing. Come on, we’re taking you home.” His voice left no room for argument. Alex tried to steer John by the shoulders, but he flinched away again. Not thinking. Hair sticking to his face. Home. Taking him to their home. 

He wanted to cry, but he didn’t know why. 

They steered him into an older house, it creaked and swayed in the wind. Alex shifted back and forth more than usual, fumbling with the key, jumping out of his skin, and swearing as the first bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. 

John looked over at Alex, who seemed to be coming apart at the seams “You okay?”

“Don’t like storms.” 

He got the door open and rushed into a separate room slamming the door shut behind him. 

“Is he okay?” John turned to Lafayette who sat them both down and the couch, sitting too close to John.  

“He will be alright. When it’s this mild he prefers to be alone for a few minutes, if it gets worse he’ll come get me.” 

John nodded and played with his hands, shivering and dripping on a couch that cost more than he could make in a month. 

Lafayette covered him in blankets and he shivered more, for a different reason. Too close. Too close. Think of something else. He thought of Alex. 

Think of anything else. 

Lafayette kept talking. John couldn’t focus on the words, instead his mind wandered, to how different the two looked when they talked. Alex always raced to get his words out, sometimes tripping over himself in an effort to move faster, while Lafayette meandered trusting whoever was listening to stay until the end, putting gaps in for John to speak. 

Something in what Lafayette said broke through.   
“You are completely soaked,” He  reached out and John froze. He could focus again, on everything. His heart in his chest, the sound of the rain, Lafayette’s eyes on him. Lafayette’s hand pushing back his hair. 

He made a noise that sounded vaguely like an agreement. Back to not being able to think. 

“How long were you out there?” 

“I I’m not sure. Since this morning” His hand was still on John’s face, pushing more hair behind his ear. Stop. Stop this. Couldn’t hurt Alex. Wouldn't hurt them both. Act. Act. Not acting is how you fail. 

Lafayette shook his head, John couldn’t pull away. 

“Let’s not do that again, alright?” 

He should have told him it wasn’t his business, moved away, asked about Alex again. He stayed still. 

He couldn’t blame the rain for his shivers anymore. 

“L-laf.” 

And then he leaned forward, giving John plenty of time to pull away. Stop. No. Do not hurt Alex. Do not hurt Lafayette. Act. Act. Do the right thing. No. Do not betray Alex. Do not. 

He leaned forward. Still not thinking. 

“Lafayette, what the hell?” 

John shot back, scrambling out of the kiss and off of the couch. 

“What?” Lafayette should sound guilty, caught, they hurt Alex. Instead he sounded mildly annoyed, all of John’s admiration began to dry up on the spot, maybe he was cruel, no one should hurt Alex this easily. 

“Couldn’t you wait for me?” Alex’s voice didn’t sound angry enough. 

“What so you could monologue at him?”

“Yes!” 

John looked between the two of them, “confused” not even close to describing what he felt. 

“That is a terrible idea.” 

“It’s better than just kissing him without any preamble.” 

“We have had weeks of preamble.” 

“Guys?” John’s voice sounded smaller than it should have.

“Yeah. Almost like we should talk to him.” 

“You had twenty pages of notes, with ‘evidence’ from our conversations, I needed to put a stop to it.” 

“Guys.” They didn't seem mad, at least. Not at him. Not even at each other.

“I wouldn’t have presented it all! I would have paraphrased.” 

“What? So it’d only be ten pages?”

“Marie-Joseph Paul Yves-” 

“Can one of you please tell me what’s going on?” John meant it to come out as a shout, but his voice cracked and that more than anything seemed to grab their attention. 

They both sat down next to him. 

“Sorry, Jack.” Alex whispered, he was still using his nickname, it didn’t make sense. None of this made sense. 

“Alex, I am so, so, sorry. I know that’s not going to make up for any of this, but I just-I didn’t- Oh god, I didn’t want to-”

“Breathe, John.”Alex shot another look towards Lafayette as if to say ‘I told you so’. 

John took in a deep breath, and hid his face in his knees. 

“Can you look at me?” 

John raised his head. He owed him at least that much. 

“I’m not angry, John. I’m going to start with that, okay?” 

John shook his head. Had to be lying. 

“I’m not, I wanted to talk to you first, we wanted to, but I suppose what Gil did works just as well, John.” 

Alex was speaking slower than normal. Took his time with his words. 

“I..we want to be with you. Fuck. I had something more eloquent I swear. Lafayette hid my notes.” 

He’d never seen him without his words before, never seen him struggle to speak. 

“John, we love you.” 

“Laf!” 

“What?” 

John cut them off this time, throwing his arms around Alex, tangling his hand in his hair and kissing him before his thoughts could get ahead of him. Alex made a surprised sound in the back of his throat, and pulled away quicker than he wanted to, turning to Lafayette, who only beamed back at him, before kissing John on the forehead. 

“Yeah? This. This is what you two want?” 

He’d started to cry, not sure why, not able to express this. Here, with both of them, Alex tangled behind him. Lafayette in front of him looking down at him, making him feel vulnerable and open. 

“Yes.” 

It was simple. John started crying more, he moved to show them his word, even though they must have already seen it. 

“We know.” Alex said rubbing his back. 

“I.. no, I need to explain, you already saw it, I need to explain.” John rambled. 

Lafayette leaned over and kissed him again. 

“You may explain if you wish, but trust me when I say, we know.” 

John looked down to their words, 

_ Cruel. Failure. Betray.  _

He shook his head, running his hands over each of their words. 

“They aren’t right.” 

“No. They aren’t.” Alex said. 

John folded into them. 

Couldn’t believe this. 

Too much. 

“Let’s get you to bed. You are still freezing.” 

They fell into a new routine after that. Alex and him walked down to the town square together, Lafayette brought them warm drinks and coats, staying with them when he could, rushing off to work when he couldn’t. 

They fell asleep next to each other, warmth lulling John to sleep faster than ever  before. They ate meals together, Lafayette still making too much food. As the days turned into weeks, which turned into months, even the end of the world began to seem normal. 

Both of them held him and he didn’t feel empty anymore. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took quite a while to post due to me (Sola) not really knowing my way around AO3! Took a lot of trial and error of copy-pasting links to get it to work but finally.
> 
> Anyway, I hope it looks nice, it was a bit rushed but I'm kind of proud of it for the quality despite that. Anyway, I really love this chaptered fic and I hope the people who read this will too! Lilachason is a really great writer and I hope to collab more with her!!


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It came in waves  
> The end will come at a price  
> If we believe, the end won’t end.

_ It came in waves  _

_ The end will come at a price  _

_ If we believe, the end won’t end.  _

The Prophets were right. It came in waves. It had been getting worse. It overtook towns. It left behind nothing but white. It kept getting closer. 

The end. 

It was the new threat and it came in waves. 

The town went after the soldiers. Demanding they act. Pointless, senseless deaths happening, and not stopping. Anyone who hid their wrist omen hung in town squares. 

They didn’t listen to the Prophets. 

Anyone left in the towns was covered in dust. Pointless deaths. 

Lafayette spent more time in the house. Alex tried to figure it all out, tried to make sense of it all. Wrote everything down far as he could see. 

They kept moving. At least they didn’t have to wear the bracelets anymore. 

Alex’s head snapped up from his shopping.

Goddamnit.

He shouldn't be here. 

“You just keep believing in the fucking prophets, since they’ve done so much so far” John shouted.  Loud, and angry, getting into another fight he didn’t belong in. The riots had been going for at least a week and a half. 

And there John stood, in the middle of a beginning, trying to a pick a fight with a man twice his size. 

He shoved him back, spitting something about non-believers. Alex rushed forward without thinking. Couldn’t let this stand. No. Don’t let John get hurt. 

“Back off.” He snarled, the blood already surging in his veins. Protect them. Don’t let John get hurt. 

John moved back in surprise. Needed to get out. A crowd gathered. Stupid. Stupid. Don’t get caught up in a fight. Stay out of the riots. Lafayette's voice echoed in his head, fear leading to anger, anger leading to danger. 

Neither of them had bothered to learn his lesson. 

More people. Seeing the crowd gather. Pressing around. Yesterday, it had been the soldiers fault. Now, it was the non-believers. Gathering. Pressing.

The man threw the first punch. Alex grabbed John and tried to run. Trapped. Too many people. Couldn’t get out. Couldn’t think. 

Apparently Lafayette hadn’t stayed home either, he stood with a group of soldiers. Breaking up the crowd. 

John had curled in on himself, Alex tried to help him to his feet, but he slapped his hand away. Needed to stand on his own. Needed to move. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” Alex managed, between ragged breaths. Could have gotten himself killed. Could have died. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. How could he? 

“They weren’t right.” John snapped back. A moment of heat, anger finally bubbling over. Dangerous. Dangerous to each other now. 

“That doesn’t matter.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“‘Sorry’ won’t pay the healers. What the hell were you thinking?” Alex repeated taking a step forward. 

John went silent. The quiet broke Alex.

“Hey, I’m sorry Jack, alright? Let’s get home.” He let Alex help him this time, Lafayette on the other side. Lafayette had blood on his hands. Must have broken up another fight. They walked home in silence, with the exception of uncomfortable reassurances from Lafayette. 

“It will be okay. You are both okay. Alright? We’ll get you fixed up.” 

They sat down at their table. 

“Neither of you should have been down there.” Lafayette sounded angry, he never sounded angry, but he looked like he might break. 

“I was just breaking up a fight he got into.” Alex said rising to another fight without even thinking. 

John looked down, didn’t respond, still didn’t like the feeling of being on the outside, even after months of reassurances: he was equal, he made their lives better, not just the other way around. 

“I’m sorry.” He said again, this time no anger in his voice. 

“You can’t be doing this type of thing.” 

“We are only worried for you, mon chaton.” 

John nodded along to their words, not really processing them. 

“I know.” He reached up and grabbed both their hands, squeezing, grounding them. 

It kept getting worse, at first, they could all ignore it. Pretend these tragedies were not their tragedies, pretend The Sickness took place in some far off land, and didn’t press at their doors. The Prophets predicted they had twenty years before it consumed everything. 

At some point along the way it got harder to pretend. 

“I had to do something. We can’t just sit here and let this happen, this isn’t right. Lafayette you aren’t even safe to walk in the streets. The Prophets-” He spat the name “put up a list of all the soldiers and now you're not even safe, and I can’t keep sitting here.” John said growing more and more desperate with each word. 

“So you fight those you disagree with on the street? In broad daylight?” Lafayette's words made him shrink in shame. 

“I won’t do it again.” 

Alex and Lafayette shared a look. 

“I know.” Alex finally said.  

“We are not mad.” Lafayette said. 

John nodded, he got up and kissed both of them before going to their bedroom. They were right. He wouldn’t change a thing this way.

The next day, he left before either of them woke and went down to the square.  He’d given up on trying to find a job, but now he found a new way to work. 

He copied down what little information they had, how to get out, but even that wasn’t meant to go up. The Prophets and The scholars said it would take twenty years to cover everything. First hand accounts determined once the dust covered 25% of the town most people left would die. 

This was a Sickness. They needed to treat it like one. They needed to stop pretending 

He crawled in bed too exhausted to do much more than kiss Lafayette and Alex goodnight.

He went back to the flyers then. He ran away before the mob gathered, condemning those who didn’t believe. 

Dangerous now. 

People started to recognize his face.

Pointless now. 

Wouldn’t change anything. 

Not really. 

Came home bruised. 

Ignored Alex’s look of horror, trying to get him to stay in bed.  

The Sickness kept coming. 

“Can you please let us help? Tell us what to do. How do we make this better?” Lafayette had caught him coming home one night; Alex had fallen asleep on the couch writing again. 

“I’m fine.”

“You clearly are not fine.” 

“Well, if my options are being fine, or sitting and doing nothing then yes, I am fine.” He was exhausted, but he shouldn’t take it out on Lafayette. 

“Mon chaton, please, I’m begging you-”

“Don’t call me that.” John snapped. 

A look of hurt flashed across Lafayette's face before he composed himself again. 

“John.”

“I have to do something.” Desperation. They didn’t understand. 

“You cannot keep doing this. You are going to get yourself killed. It’s not safe.” 

“I have to do something.” 

Lafayette stood shaking his head. John kept going, stopping looked like failure. 

“You are not allowed to take yourself from us!” Lafayette shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. John tried to back away, true fear entering his eyes.  Lafayette never shouted. Alex woke up, looking equally shocked and confused. 

“Laf. Let go of him.” 

Lafayette let go of John like he’d been burned, stumbling back and covering his mouth, face ashen. 

His word seemed to flash in that moment. 

John reached out for him, but he rushed to his bedroom, the one he never used, and slammed the door shut behind him. 

John waited a few hours before going in. Felt dread seep through the walls of their home. Maybe he should have stayed home. 

“John, come here.” Alex said after a while. 

John went to sit on his lap. 

“I don’t want to make you guys scared.” 

“I know you don’t. I know. But this isn’t healthy, and it's not helping.” 

“I-”

“I know you have to do something. I understand.” 

“Is Lafayette really that mad?” Just a little bit of fear shining through now,  he peaked up at Alex,his Alex still trying to be strong. 

“He’s not mad. I’m not mad. It’s just... People are getting killed in the riots,” He paused taking a deep breath, seemingly to steady himself before saying  “and we don’t want that to be you.” 

John sighed relaxing into Alex. 

“I know. Have, have you ever heard him shout like that before?” 

Alex paused for a long while before shaking his head. 

It didn’t seem like much. And it wouldn’t be, not with John or Alex, whose voices raised in jokes, and play arguments, almost always lowering when things got heated, but sometimes it got too much, and one of them exploded, fizzling out quickly. They shouted. Not often, but it happened. 

Lafayette didn’t shout. 

He went into the room. 

“Sweetheart?” He knocked on the side of the door letting Lafayette know he was coming in. 

Lafayette curled more in on himself, facing the wall. John walked over and put his hand on his shoulder. 

“Can you talk to me?” John asked, wishing he had words like Alex, or gentleness like Lafayette. 

“What is there to talk about?” He didn’t sound afraid, or angry, or even guilty, just numb, and that scared John the most. 

He didn’t know how to deal with numbness. 

“You You know you have the right to your emotions.” 

“Emotions, yes. Scaring you? No.” 

“Laf...”

“I grabbed you, and shouted at you, and Alexander had to pull me away, and-”

“Lafayette, no, that’s not what-”

“And, I do not know how to stop you from doing this, and I do not know-”

“This doesn’t make you cruel.” 

He seemed to break through the fog of panic, by saying what he meant, focusing the two enough. 

He crawled on the bed next to Lafayette, could see the guilt and fear trapping him, again, had seen it anytime they got into an argument, backing down too quickly, any time he got angry, anytime, because this couldn’t even be a possibility. 

In the same way Alex didn’t lie to them, even little white ones that did no harm. 

In the same way John couldn’t back down, even when he needed to.

This couldn’t even be a possibility. 

“I... I do not know how to stop you from getting yourself killed.” 

John looked down again. 

“I know you wish to stop this, or help, but we cannot lose you.” 

John reached out and grabbed his hand. They laid together, until Alex came in, and laid with them. They breathed in and out together until the morning. 

Before he fell asleep he heard Lafayette say to Alex, 

“I am beginning to believe in prophecies.” 

The next day he slipped out of bed again, he couldn’t change now. Not when it kept coming. 

He wasn’t brave enough to face Lafayette's fear, or Alex’s reason, so he didn’t tell them where he went. 

They showed up anyways, they both sat on their old spots by the long abandoned “Work Wanted” stall. Where he and Alex searched for jobs in the cold, where Lafayette brought them food and warmth, where the three fell in love. 

Now, Alex helped him make flyers, he was a faster scribe than both of them put together. 

Lafayette came down during the afternoon.

“I thought you didn’t like this.”

“I do not. But, what you are doing is the greatest good for the greatest number of people. I cannot fault you for that. I I still wish it was someone besides you who needed to be brave, but I am done being selfish.” 

Now, he stayed behind them while they put up posters, while they talked and hid, he protected them. 

They kept moving together. 

The world fell apart around them, and they kept going. It had stopped seeming normal. 

Alex stopped worrying about The Sickness, but he tried to hide news from John, and selfishly began to wish that he didn't need to hear, that Lafayette might miss the news when the next town went under, the his loves would continue to ignore prophecies.

One day they stopped in front of the announcement board and saw the next part of the Prophecy. 

_ If they listen  _

_ We will be saved _

_ The cruel must act.  _

_ Failures must pay.  _

_ Only the betrayed can get away.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for the support on the story so far. Sola and I are enjoying posting it. Especially to SparrowFlight246, mqry, littlemsterious who all left lovely comments, we really loved reading them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took forever to make!! I've had lots of trouble involving programs failing, art block, and all around not a good mood but I'm happy to say that I at the very least finished it even if it's not the best I've ever done! The background and overall feel of the piece definitely need work but ayo.  
> -Soladox


	5. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It will come in waves
> 
> It will come at a price
> 
> If we believe, the end won’t end.
> 
> If they listen
> 
> We will be saved
> 
> The cruel must act.
> 
> Failures must pay.
> 
> Only the betrayed can get away.

**Chapter Three**

_ It will come in waves  _

_ It will come at a price  _

_ If we believe, the end won’t end.  _

_ If they listen  _

_ We will be saved _

_ The cruel must act.  _

_ Failures must pay.  _

_ Only the betrayed can get away.  _

Lafayette took them away once they were named. He practically ran with them to their house. 

People bowed as he passed.

He came first. He would have the information. He would have to act. Act. Act. 

They bowed to him. 

But The Prophets would come soon. 

Cruel. Failure. Betrayed. The prophecies never named names, only words. And now everyone knew who it was about. 

Lafayette burst through the door, running around and throwing three bags together, not pausing to take a breath, or talk to John and Alex. 

“Please, slow down.” Alex tried. 

Lafayette shoved more of John’s clothes in a bag, not responding. 

“Laf, sweetheart,” John tried, Lafayette tossed him his bag before going and rifling around in their medical cabinet to pull out John’s herbs and tonics. 

John and Alex shared a look before simply following him. They waited until they had three bags sitting on the counter. 

“Alright, what do you want to do?” Alex finally asked, even though it had become fairly obvious: Run. Do not submit for further questioning, do not let the prophets poke and prod, and send them through trails. 

Act like they knew what they were doing. 

“There is a place, we can go for at least a day, we have a day grace period? Yes. We can talk.” Lafayette grabbed something else from the cupboard. 

The Prophets gave everyone a day. So they could think. 

Most didn’t try to run.

People listened to The Prophets. 

And they looked upon those who did not with disgust. 

John and Alex sat in silence and watched him, he looked at them with imploring eyes, ringed by dark circles, terrified, desperate, shaking, theirs. 

Trying and failing not to cry. 

“We have a day.” Alex said walking over to him, putting a hand between his shoulder blades.  

Lafayette closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, deflating just enough to function.   

“Let’s get going, where do you want us to go?” John asked standing a pace away, understanding they needed each right now. 

Alex and John had grown used to to each other’s ways of panic and fear, but for Laf, who never seemed to break, who never could admit weakness, John had never seen it, but Alex had. So they stood. Just for a moment. Broken, and unsure. Until Lafayette lifted his head, and John wiped at his tears. 

They walked towards the door, through the town, along a mostly silent path. No one came up to them. No one jeered at John, or demanded that Lafayette do something. No one even looked at Alex. 

Lafayette led them to a clearing on the top of a hill just outside of town. They had to climb and outreach, and then fit themselves through an opening Lafayette almost got stuck in.

A meadow opened up, sheltered by mossy cliffs, a small pool of water nestled in the corner.

John remembered it being beautiful. 

“How’d you find this place?” John asked looking around. 

“I used to come when I got frightened, before I met either of you.”  

John squeezed his hand, and they went to sit on an outcropping of stone, he tangled his legs with Lafayette’s, and Alex snuggled into his other side. 

For a while, they went back to breathing together. 

“What do we want to do?” Alex asked. 

John breathed a sigh of relief at the we. 

Of course they faced this together. 

“I have a plan.” Lafayette spoke up beginning to dump the bags out.  

John and Alex finally got a look at what he packed. 

The expected: healing herbs and vials, warm clothes, money food. 

Everything else he sorted into a separate pile: face powder and paint, matching each of their skin tones, a set of calligraphy pens and robes to hide their faces. 

Alex figured it out first. 

“You want us to run.” 

“I want us to be safe, we, we do not know what this means, they never tell us until it is too late. We can hide our words and put new ones down. We can get away.” 

He made it sound so simple. They did not turn themselves into the Prophets. They resisted. 

John paused before asking, “But what if they are right? What if we can help? What if it stops?” 

Alex and Lafayette shared a look. D _ o not let him believe them, do not let him think for a moment he could become a martyr. That the sacrifice might help, or drive back The Sickness. _

“No Jack.” Alex said reaching out and grabbing his hand. 

John pulled away. 

“You know what they do to people who try to run, what difference would it make?” 

He’d pay. 

Him paying was fine. 

Alex and Lafayette could be safe. 

And he could ignore the dread of whatever The Prophets wanted them for. 

“There are those who do not get caught. We will be them.” Lafayette said. 

“Alex?” John asked, he’d been silent. 

“We still don’t believe in prophecies right?”  

John and Lafayette both looked away. 

“I don’t see why we started. I don’t see how you two started believing in them again. But, I don’t want to get away. Not without you two. So yeah, we run, and we find a town, and if The Sickness keeps coming we have at least another twenty years, maybe. That’s what you put on all your posters right Jack? Run to Samarra, or someplace close to it. Have twenty years. That’s not nothing, that makes a difference. I don’t want to go in.  I don’t want you two going in.” Alex shook his head more and drew his knees up to his chest. Going in to the Prophets. The Prophecies didn’t always end badly for those involved. Sometimes they found workarounds, tried and experiment until something clicked and the prophecy fulfilled itself. 

But, they didn’t usually end well. 

“Then we do not go in.” Lafayette said. Making it simple again. 

“What about you, John?” Alex asked. 

“I I don’t want either of you hurt. I want you both safe.” John hugged them a bit tighter. Those posters, the fights on the streets, he could ignore all that. At least on some level. 

“We will be safer away from all this, no?” 

John nodded and relaxed against Lafayette and Alex, closing his eyes. 

“So we run?” John said. 

“Yes.” Lafayette confirmed. 

“Twenty years.” John said softly. It sounded like a long time, but then again not long at all. 

“Is that enough?” Alex asked. 

“It will have to be.” 

Lafayette took out the paints and John helped to blend them, making it so they had three colors matched to their skin perfectly. They covered the words, and for a moment it looked like they could be anything at all. They didn’t believe in prophecies, and now it looked like they didn’t have to. Bare skin. 

Lafayette, John, and Alex.  

“What do we write instead?” John asked still looking at his wrist. 

Alex took his hand, and flipped it over. 

“Can I?” 

John nodded. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn’t know why he felt so vulnerable; more naked than when they actaully laid togther. Alex took his time, slowly tracing the inside of John’s other wrist while he worked, making John shiver and lose focus. 

_ Hero.  _

John whimpered a bit and reached out to touch it, but Alex held his wrist. 

“You’ll smear the ink. Let it dry.” 

He’d matched the style of the Word Omen perfectly. 

It looked real. 

John opened and closed his mouth looking at it. 

“Lex...” He could barely get his voice to work. 

Just a word. 

Just like the other word. 

“Come on Laf, your turn.” Alex acted like it nothing and turned to Lafayette doing the same thing. 

John saw him tense and lean curve around Alex trying to see what he was writing. Alex elbowed him away, muttering something about him being impatient.  

_ Kind _

Alex pulled away and Lafayette had the same shocked look on his face as John, he reached out too. 

Both checking to see if they felt as real as they looked. 

John held his hand.

Alex smiled at both of them before beginning to put the calligraphy set away. 

Lafayette reached out and stopped him, pulling him back in between them. 

“Our turn.” Lafayette reached for the set, and pressed a kiss to Alex’s bare wrist before beginning to work. 

_ Genius _ . 

John grabbed the other quill before Alex could properly react and wrote on his other wrist. 

_ Loyal.  _

A funny look passed over Alex’s face at that, and he had to pause before he could speak. 

“I only get one Jack” 

“Then we’ll let you choose one” John said before writing  _ Caring.  _ On his forearm. 

Alex’s lip trembled a bit and he snatched the quill from John’s hand, 

“My turn.” Alex moved to write on John’s other wrist. 

_ Determined.  _

John laughed, even though he was starting to look just as undone as Alex. 

_ “ _ That’s one word for it.” He managed a bit shaikly. 

Lafayette kissed him behind the ear and hushed him. He wrote  _ hilarious _ on John’s arm. 

John took the quill from his hand and wrote on Lafayette’s other wirst, falling into a rhythm now. All three ignoring how simple words broke them down. Pretending not to care, because if they cared this much about new words, they must have cared about the old ones. 

_ Breathtaking.   _

Alex wrote  _ Bold _ on the back of his hand and they all laughed, remembering John’s first kiss with them. 

“I do not know what you mean by this one.” Lafayette said holding his hand up looking mock offended. 

“Oh yes, ‘Oh Alex, you wanted to talk to John? I decided to make out with him before consulting you instead.’” Alex said, doing a very poor impression of Lafayette's accent. 

John laughed more covering his mouth and ducking his face. 

“You are both so mean to me.” 

John wrote  _ Creative _ on Alex’s hand.

They kept going. Sometimes they shared words, all three ended up with  _ Caring _ , and  _ Beautiful _ scrawled on some part of them. Some of them were unique. 

Somewhere along the way, they stopped pretending they were joking. 

They stopped pretending the words meant nothing. 

They wrote, and laughed, until they ran out of skin, until the sun began to rise over the hidden walls and they knew they’d run out of time. 

As they rose to wash off the excess praise, John looked to his loves and thought that if anyone saw them now they might think they were creatures of another world. Blessed with a hundred prophecies. 

“I brought a rag and soap, let me go get it, we can apply the words we choose” Lafayette went back up to their bags. John and Alex stood at the edge of the water. 

Alex shook his head. “Why am I not surprised that he remembered cleaning supplies while we were running out of the house.” 

“I bet he already has the curtains for our new house picked out.” 

“Oh, absolutely.” Alex snorted before reaching out and grabbing John’s hand, squeezing it. 

“Love you.” 

“Love you too, Lex.” 

Lafayette came back over with the rag and soap dipping both into the frigid water. He paused, and waited for John to nod his consent before running it over John’s arms, smearing the words, first to black, then to nothing.

He kept  _ Hero _

Alex kept  _ Loyal _ . 

Lafayette kept  _ Kind _ . 

They couldn’t tell who started to cry first, or who stopped hiding it before the other two, John climbing onto Lafayette's lap and pressing his face into the crook of his shoulder, trying heartbreakingly hard to keep silent. 

Alex followed.

They couldn’t even tell why they started.

Because the words looked so real. 

Because they weren’t. 

Because the world was ending. 

And because they just might get out.

“T-twenty years?” John asked still hiding his face. 

“Does that sound like enough?” Alex rubbed his back, just in the way that he liked. 

“Of course not.” Lafayette whispered wiping a bit at his own tears. All three falling apart. 

“Then we will have to make it enough.” John could have so easily kept determined. 

“We will make it enough.” Lafayette echoed.  

Alex nodded, and they stood up, clean each with a chosen word, and walked out together. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey.   
> I forget to post.   
> That is all.

**Author's Note:**

> Lafayette is such a dork. John is such a dork. They are all dorks. I love them.  
> Comments are the best reward.


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